6/10/2023 0 Comments Feeding a finicky cat![]() Not dry food – you got rid of all that – but other enticing foods such as Parmesan cheese or bonito flakes.īe sure to try different meats. One day, they will probably surprise you and casually gobble it down. But if it is there every time they eat, they will eventually begin to associate the smell with mealtime. Put a little spoonful of the raw food next to the canned food on their plate or dish. ![]() Plan on getting them to eating 100% raw food over the course of 6 to 8 weeks. Slowly increase the proportion of the raw cat food. If this gets eaten, continue with this amount for 3 or 4 days and then increase it to a half teaspoon. Start small, around a quarter teaspoon per meal. Here are some of the methods and tips for transitioning: Transitioning cats to a raw food diet can take anywhere from five seconds for some, to months for others. This can be a challenge for your cats, and you don't want to make mealtime stressful. There are a variety of ways to transition from a canned diet to raw food for cats. If they won't eat, you will need to transition them over to it. If that happens, you can switch them over to raw cat food immediately. Some cats will dive right in and devour it. Serve the warmed food at one of your cats' usual mealtimes…and see what happens. Do not use a microwave to warm or thaw it, as this will cook it. Place the bag in a bowl of warm water for five minutes to warm it up a bit. As a test, thaw some of the raw cat food in the refrigerator and then place a few ounces of it in a Ziploc-type bag. There are many nutritionally complete, frozen raw foods for cats at pet stores or online. Once your cats are happily eating their canned food at regular mealtimes, it's on to the next step. ¹ The goal is to get them used to two or three canned meals a day, with no dry available. Cats that go too long without eating could develop hepatic lipidosis, which can be life threatening. Hunger will help convince them that the canned is worth trying, but don't let them go longer than 24 hours without eating something. Try different flavors of canned to see if there are ones your cats prefer. You can try offering bribes as toppings to entice them: Parmesan cheese, bonito flakes or the juice from water-packed canned tuna. If they eat the kibble off, they will be getting a bit of the canned, too, and this will get them used to the taste. If they still refuse to eat, try crumbling a little of the dry on top. ![]() Being a little hungry – they will have gone 8 to 12 hours without eating at this point – will make it much more likely that they will eat. Start by offering them the canned at their mealtime. One of the major reasons to stop feeding dry foods is to get them away from eating a carbohydrate-laden diet. It is best to get a grain-free canned food. If your cats won't eat canned food readily, then you'll need to work on getting them used to the canned before you completely eliminate the dry. It is only growing kittens or cats that are ailing that need to be fed more frequently. A healthy adult cat can easily go 12 hours between meals. Yes, they will be hungry when dinnertime comes, but that is a good thing. Put their food out two or three times a day for 20 to 30 minutes, and then take it up. The first step is to establish mealtimes and stop free-feeding. This may make a difference in their initial acceptance of raw food for cats. You didn't mention whether they were already eating any sort of canned food. Some cats will eat raw food right away, while others can be quite unwilling to eat anything other than what they are used to. The best way to transition your cats will depend mostly upon them.
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